The White House said on Wednesday that it is considering a military response to a rocket attack on an air base in western Iraq that is home to US and coalition soldiers.
At least 10 rockets hit Al Asad airbase in Anbar province, Iraq, on Wednesday, with a US contractor suffering a heart attack during the bombing and subsequently dying.
“We are following this now,” President biden
Joe BidenThe West needs a more collaborative approach with Taiwan. Abbott’s medical consultants were not all consulted before he removed the mandate from the Texas mask. House approves George Floyd Justice in Policing Act MORE told reporters. “Thank God, no one was killed by the rocket. One individual, a contractor, died of a heart attack. But we are identifying who is responsible and we will make judgments ”.
Press Secretary of the White House Jen Psaki
Jen PsakiDocuments shows limited capacity at US border facilities: CNN Overnight Defense: Chief of Guard DC testifies about the damaged response to the Capitol attack | US contractor dies of heart attack after rocket attack in Iraq | Pentagon watchman discovers ‘inappropriate conduct’ of ex-White House doctor Here’s who Biden is now considering for budget chief MORE, meanwhile, said the government is still assessing who is to blame for the attack, but indicated that the US “calculated and proportional” air strikes last week “will be our model in the future”.
Psaki was referring to the U.S. attack on an Iran-backed militia along the Iraq-Syria border on February 25, which resulted in the death of a militiaman. The attack was in response to a February 16 attack on US-led troops in northern Iraq, which killed a civilian contractor and wounded an American military.
“If we consider that an additional response is needed, we will take action again in the manner and at the time of our choice,” said Psaki. “What we will not do is make a hasty and ill-informed decision.”
No one has yet taken responsibility for Wednesday’s morning strike, which left officials concerned about a cycle of retaliatory attacks, much like those that occurred last year and included the U.S. drone attack that killed Iranian general Qassem Soleimani in Baghdad in January 2020.
The attack that killed Soleimani nearly pushed Washington and Tehran to the brink of war when Iran responded with a missile attack that caused traumatic brain injuries to dozens of American soldiers stationed on the same base hit on Wednesday.
The attacker and subsequent death of the contractor also complicates pressure from the Biden government to restart negotiations with Iran over the 2015 nuclear deal.
Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said that if a response is justified for the latest attack, the United States “has clearly shown that we are not going to run away from this, but we are simply not there yet.”
“I am not prepared to talk about possible future responses at this time,” Kirby told reporters at the Pentagon. “If we determine that an answer is necessary, we will do so in the manner, time and place of our choice.”
Kirby also said that the United States cannot yet assign responsibility for the attack and that Iraqi security forces are still reviewing the extent of the damage.
The strike comes two days before Pope Francis
Pope Francis, bishops discourage Catholics from receiving the Johnson & Johnson vaccine if available alternatives in the US ponder a possible military response to the rocket attack at the base of Iraq. US contractor dies in attack on Iraqi base MORE must visit Iraq, with stops in Baghdad, Erbil and southern Iraq.